Vampire-themed writing class to debut next semester

Beginning fall 2010, the English department will offer English 485 and English 585. The fall 2010 Forms and Genres classes, which will be taught by Dr. Robin Anne Reid, will focus on vampire narratives.

These classes will go beyond literature and also focus on vampire poetry, prose, television and film. In addition to in-class reading, there will also be online content for students to study.

"Free online editions of "Christabel," "Carmilla" and "Dracula" will be assigned as well as…films and television episodes [that will be] shown on campus," an e-mail from Dr. Reid to Dr. Donna Dunbar-Odom stated.

Today the first thought that often comes to mind after vampires are mentioned is Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight" series.

"I like vampire novels, but mostly the ones before the onslaught of ‘Twilight' wannabes appeared," junior English and secondary education major Justin Jau said.

The class will also use another pop culture vampire series when it reads Charlaine Harris' "Dead Until Dark," which is a basis for the HBO show "True Blood." However, the classes incorporate a wider range of literature than just "Twilight," although Meyer‘s novel is one of the required texts. Other class texts include "Tantalize" by Cynthia Leitich Smith, "Carpe Jugulum" by Terry Pratchett and "Fledgling" by Ocatavia E. Butler.

The Vampire Narratives class may become attractive to students who, like Jau, enjoy books like Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles" since another necessary text is "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice.

"Anne Rice would…be okay," junior English major with a secondary teaching certificate Justin Rice said.

The new classes are optional for the Literature and Languages Creative Writing Certificate and they can be taken again as the focus of the class changes.

"Vampires aren't my genre of choice," Rice said. "But I am not opposed to anything. It would simply depend on whether or not the focus appealed to me at the time."

The class will be divided into halves.

"The first half of the course will be spent in intensive immersion in vampire narratives from Coleridge's "Christabel" to Meyer's "Twilight," focusing on the genre conventions of vampires and their ‘victims,' and how those conventions arise from social context," the e-mail stated.

The other part of the class involves more hands-on work and will require innovative imagination from the students.

"The second half will be spent on individual and group collaborative projects exploring specific elements of vampire narratives and developing creative projects reflecting students' visions of vampires in any genre and media," the e-mail read.

Students who take on this class are assumed to have background experience in workshopping of any genre, which blends in-depth reading with rigorous writing.

"I would definitely take a class about vampires," Jau said. "I like the concept of vampire novels."